ST launches secure MCU series

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – STMicroelectronics said its ST31 series of dual-interface microcontrollers is based on the SC000 processor core licensed from ARM Holdings and is intended for use in contactless operations such as transport cards.

The ST31's low-power consumption helps in contactless applications in which the card circuitry is powered by RF energy from the reader. A single-interface version of the ST31 is also available for contact-only application is also available.

The SC000 combines Cortex-M0 microcontroller features with security features of ARM SecurCore
processors. The ST31 chips are compliant with EMVCo and Common Criteria EAL6+ security certifications, are capable of supporting recognized cryptography algorithms such as DES, AES, RSA and ECC.

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The chips are produced in a 90-nm manufacturing process technology with support for EEPROM non-volatile memory. The chips offer from 16-kbyte to 52-kbyte of on-chip EEPROM and 3.4-Mbit/s contactless data rates.

The ST31 series is sampling and scheduled for certification in April 2013, ST said.